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Djinang
Data collected by AUSTLANG
Data on the Djinang language
Alternatives names: Dyinang, Yolngu, Yandijinang, Yandjinung
For a full list of alternative names and spelling, see Austlang.
Main dialects: Like all languages of the Yuulngu group, it is very complicated to list every dialect of Djinang. Each of the Djinang clans has one or more names for their own particular dialect, and clan members usually give the clan name in lieu of the dialect name.
Classification: Pama-Nyungan, Yuulngu (Yolngu) group.
All the Yuulngu languages are sometimes considered as dialects of a Yuulngu “macro-language”.
Area: Australia, Northern Territory.
Djinang is spoken by approximately 200 Aboriginal people living in the vicinity of Rammingining (the government spelling – the phonetic spelling is Raman.gining), a settlement on the mainland, about 20 km south of the Crocodile Islands (Waters 1989).
From the Crocodile Islands and Milingimbi south to the middle reaches of the Blyth River; east to Glyde Inlet and the true Glyde River which originates in the Arafura Swamp (Tindale 1974).
Number of speakers: The 2005 National Indigenous Languages Survey Report estimated approximately 100 speakers of Djinang.
Language vitality & transmission:
Austlang gives no data about Djinang vitality but it is fair to assume that it is a highly endangered language.
Bibliography
Waters, Bruce. 1983. An interim Djinang dictionary. Darwin: SIL.
Waters, Bruce. 1984. A grammar of Djinang, Australian National University: MA. Waters.
Bruce. 1989. Djinang and Djinba: a grammatical and historical perspective: Pacific Linguistics C114. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Waters, Bruce. Djinang dictionary, ASEDA 0009. Australian National Research Council.
See Austlang for a complete bibliography.
Maps
Tindale, Norman. 1974. Tribal Boundaries in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Division of National Mapping, Department of National Development.
Heath, Jeffrey. 1980. Basic materials in Ritharngu: grammar, texts and dictionary. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Morphy, Frances. 1983. Djapu, a Yolngu dialect. In Handbook of Australian languages Vol. 3, eds. RMW Dixon and B Bake, 1-188. Canberra: ANU Press.
Waters, Bruce. 1989. Djinang and Djinba – a grammatical and historical perspective. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Links
Austlang website
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have more information on this language: contact@sorosoro.org